Wedding Shows, Midterms, and Weight Loss OH MY!

Please excuse the cheesy title. I honestly cannot help myself.

So I had to jump off of the face of the earth to tend to the circus that is my life. A few weeks ago, my groom, my maid of honor, and I all went to the Carolina Weddings Show in Winston Salem. We had a good time, hectic but good. For those of you who are curious about going to a wedding show, I will give you the highlights:

• There is a lot of walking! Even if the event center looks small, you will make many laps around the room to make sure you saw and talked to most of the vendors.
• You will find vendors that you love but could never afford. I'm looking at you The Plaids !! But all of the options will give you plenty of great ideas like hiring a service to entertain the kids while their parents party!
• There will be more samples than you thought... Cake, catering, appetizers, and meals, and more cake!  
• SO MANY COUPONS!!! Yes. So. Many. Like the best wedding gown coupon I could imagine...
• You will be tired. There is something about standing, talking, walking, and gathering information is exhausting!

If you are considering going, I will share one tip: Bring a binder and organize information as you get it. I had my planning book with me with different folders for catering, venues, attire, ect. Then as I got flyers, I just put them into their appropriate folders. This really helped me when I was thinking about specific vendors later, I could just pull out the flyer I had in mind. Honestly, it only slowed me down a little bit during the event.

Also! I have midterms. Not just me, but my groom, my maid of honor, and most of my friends have midterms. That means if I have time to talk about wedding stuff, most of the people I want to talk to don't have time.

My computer currently has tabs open for study guides and wedding dress styles. My mind isn't fully functioning on either front. If you are a student trying to plan a wedding, give yourself a long engagement. It is nice having the option to take a few weeks off of wedding planning, even if I don't want to...

And as if I don't have enough on my plate, lets add another thing. Some of my closest friends and I have taken to going to the gym... 3 times a week. I love spending my time in spin class or hot yoga or on the elliptical but sometimes I should really do my homework instead. 

Still, I go to the gym and I am striving for weight loss. Ever bride wants to be fit and toned on her wedding day and find a dress that will show off her awesome bod. Having the dress that makes her feel confident is so important. When I started going to the gym, I thought I had AGES to have the wedding body that I wanted.... Well the wedding show sped up that process for me. At the David's Bridal booth, they were handing out coupons for  $50 off wedding gowns if you made your first appointment in the next 2 months. This appointment doesn't have to be the one that you buy your gown, but you have to go and try things on. David's also does $99 gowns a few times a year... that means that I might find my dress for $49 and that is definitely broke bride friendly!!

And I am still nervous about seeing myself in a wedding gown. 

It's not just the weight that I am at... its the fear of having the "Say Yes to the Dress" moment. The moment that you put on the gown and get the rush of emotion and tears. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that but I will let you know how that goes.

Hopefully my wall of text isn't too overwhelming. Like my life right now... it's overwhelming. 

Wish me luck, 

Miss YBE

Why Get Engaged When Young and Broke?

I know that I wouldn't be doing proper justice to this blog if I didn't address this obvious question. In fact, when my FIANCE (still not used to that...) told his best friend his immediate reaction was "Why?" Although I wasn't happy, I have to understand that 20 year olds don't usually get engaged without a father holding a shotgun to the boyfriend's head to defend his prego daughter's dignity.

The Dating Situation:

The Mr. and I have been dating since I was 16 so we've gotten to grow up together. We moved to a strange city together when I was 18. So I think that we've had enough challenges to ensure that we'd work well together in the long term. We've lived together, moved together, adopted animals together, been to weddings and funerals together, and been to the hospital together. He's an amazing support and we've definitely learned how to communicate with each other.

The Complicated Situation:

I have a... strained relationship with my blood family. My father is deceased and I am not incredibly close to my mom. With this in mind, I have spent most holidays with my partner's family. I feel very connected to my future in-laws and it really ate at us that I was still an outsider. It meant a lot to me to share a name with my family of choice.

The Money Situation:

My fiance and I are both college students. He will graduate in a few months with a Computer Science degree and may end up working IT. I will graduate a few months before we wed in 2017 to become a teacher the next fall. We will never be wealthy. Our parents aren't wealthy. It doesn't make sense to spend $15,000 on a wedding that will put us all in debt. As much as I'd love to elope, sharing this moment with our closest friends and family means a lot to us. So... a real wedding is in our future.


So! I hope this answers some questions. I will post soon about my lovely engagement ring and how much I love having a fake ring.

XOXO,

YBE